constantly observable between the progress of this art and the intellectual and social elevation of its possessors. Those engaged in it now do not indeed occupy the same social position; still it is probable that in foreign lands the blood of such ancestor still run in their veins; and even in our own democratical land, with all the tendencies of its institutions, workers in glass claim a distinctive rank and character among the trades; and in the prices of labor, and the estimate of the comparative skill involved, are not controlled by those laws of labor and compensation which govern most other mechanical professions-and similarity of taste and habit is in a degree characteristic of the modern artisan in this department, as in the case of those who, for their accomplishment in the art, were ennobled in the more remote period of its progress. The same writer says: "It must be owned those great and continual heats which these gentlemen are exposed to from their furnaces are prejudicial to their health; for coming in at their mouths it attacks their lungs and dries them up, whence most part are pale and shortlived, by reason of the diseases of the heart and breast, which the fire causes; which makes Libarius say, they were of weak and infirm bodies, thirsty and easily drunkthis writer says is their true character; but I will say this in their favor, that this character is not general, having known several without this fault." Such was the character and habits of noble glass makers four hundred years since; and whether their descendants retain their blood or not, the habit of drinking, believed at that time necessary as consequent upon the nature of the employment, is at the present day confined to the ignorant, dissolute, and unambitious workmen. The habit will doubtless, ere long, be done away. Still, so long as the workmen of the present day cling to their conventional rules-act as one body, the lazy controlling the efforts of the more intelligent and industrious-so long will the conduct of the dissolute few affect the moral reputation of the entire body. They must not forget the old adage that "One bad sheep taints the flock." The spirit of the age in no degree tends to sustain the old saying that "Live horses must draw the dead ones." The writer already referred to, dwelling with great interest upon the social position and character of those then engaged in the art, goes on to say :— "Anthony de Brossard, Lord of St. Martin and St. Brice, gentleman to Charles d'Artois, Count of Eu, a prince of noble blood royal, finding this art so considerable, that understanding it did not derogate from their nobility, obtained a grant in the year 1453 to establish a glass house in his country, with prohibition of any other, and sev eral other privileges he had annexed to it. The family and extraction of this Sieur de Brossard was considerable enough to bring him here as an example. The right of making glass being so honorable, since the elder sons of the family of Brossard left it off, the younger have taken it up, and continue it to this day. Messieurs de Caqueray, also gentlemen of ancient extraction, obtained a right of glass making, which one of their ancestors contracted by marriage in the year 1468, with a daughter of Anthony de Brossard, Lord of Saint Martin, that gentleman giving half of his right for part of her fortune-which was afterwards confirmed in the Chamber of Accounts. Messieurs Valliant, an ancient family of gentlemen, also obtained a grant of a glass-house for recompense of their services, and for arms a Poignard d'Or on azure, which agrees with their name and tried valor. Besides these families, who still continue to exercise this art, there are the Msssieurs de Virgille, who have a grant for a little glasshouse. Messieurs de la Mairie, de Suqrie, de Bougard, and several others, have been confirmed in their nobility during the late search in the year 1667. "We have, moreover, in France, several great families, sprung from gentlemen glassmakers who have left the trade, among whom some have been honored with the purple and the highest dignities and offices." Enough is recorded to show in what estimation the art was held in France by the government and people of that period; and it is in no wise wonderful that an art invested with so much distinction, conducted with so much secrecy, and characterized with so great a degree of romantic interest, should have given rise to strange reports and legends, hereafter to be referred to. The writer referred to above states that there were two modes of manufacturing glass. One he denominates that of the "Great Glass-Houses," the other the Small Glass-Houses." In the large houses the manufacture of window glass, and bottles for wine or other liquors, was carried on. He states: "The gentlemen of the Great Glass-Houses work only twelve hours, but that without resting as in the little ones, and always standing and naked. The work passes through three hands. First, the gentlemen apprentices gather the glass and prepare the same. It is then handed to the second gentlemen, who are more advanced in the art. Then the master gentleman takes it, and makes it perfect by blowing it. In the little glass houses, where they make coach glasses, drinking-glasses, crystals, dishes, cups, bottles, and such like sort of vessels, the gentlemen labor but six hours together, and then more come and take their places, and after they have labored the same time, they give places to the first, and thus they work night and day, the same workmen successively, as long as the furnace is in a good condition." " Every glass maker will perceive from the foregoing description, that the same system prevails at the present time, as to the division of labor and period of labor, so far at least as "blown articles are concerned. The names, too, then given to glassmakers' tools are retained to the present day, and, with slight difference, the shapes of the various tools are the same. At the best, the manufactures of glass in France were for a long period much inferior to the Venetians and Bohemians; but after the introduction of window-glass from Venice, the making of crystal glass greatly extended, and correspondingly improved. In the year 1665, the government of France, desirous of introducing the manufac ture of window-glass, offered sufficient inducement in money and privileges to a number of French artists (who had acquired the process at Murano, at Venice,) to estab lish works at Tourtanville. At these works the same system of blowing was followed as that used in the Venetian glass-works. A workman under this system, named Thevart, discovered the art of casting plate-glass, and obtained from the government a patent for the term of thirty years. He erected extensive works in Paris, and succeeded in what was then deemed an extraordinary feat, casting plates 84 inches by 50 inches, thereby exciting unbounded admiration. The credit of the invention of casting plates of glass belongs to France, and the mode then adopted exists at the present day, with but slight variation. France monopolized the manufacture over one hundred years before it was introduced into any other country. Writers generally agree that the manufacture of glass was introduced into England in the year 1557. "Friars' Hall," as stated by one writer, was converted into a manyfactory of window glass-other writers say, for crystal-glass, (called by the English "flint," from the fact of the use of flint-stones, which by great labor they burnt and ground.) In 1675, Friars' Hall Glass Works, with forty thousand billets of wood, were destroyed by fire. In 1635, seventy-eight years after the art was introduced into England, Sir Robert Mansell introduced the use of coal fuel instead of wood, and obtained from the English government the monopoly of importing the fine Venetian drinking-glasses, an evidence that the art in England was confined as yet to the coarser articles. Indeed, it was not until the reign of William III. that the art of making Venetian drinkingvessels was brought into perfection-quite a century after the art was introduced into England-an evidence of the slow progress made by the art in that country. As France was indebted to Venice for her workmen, so also was England indebted to the same source. Howell, in one of his "Familiar Letters," directed to Sir Robert Mansell, Vice-Admiral of England, says:-" Soon as I came to Venice I applied myself to dispatch your business according to instruction, and Mr. Seymour was ready to contribute his best furtherance. These two Italians are the best gentlemen workmen that ever blew crystal. One is allied to Antonio Miotte, the other is cousin to Maralao." Although Sir Robert procured workmen from Venice, they were probably of an inferior character, and a space of fifty years elapsed before the English manufactories equalled the Venetian and French in the quality of their articles. In the year 1670, the Duke of Buckingham became the patron of the art in England, and greatly improved the quality and style of the flint glass by procuring, at great personal expense, a number of Venetian artists, whom he persuaded to settle in London. From this period, i. e., about the commencement of the eighteenth century, the English glass manufactories, aided by the liberal bounties granted them in cash upon all glass exported by them or sold for export, became powerful and successful rivals of the Venetian and the French manufactories in foreign markets. The clear bounty granted on each pound of glass exported from England, which the government paid to the manufacturer, was not derived from any tax by impost or excise previously laid, for all such were returned to the manufacturer, together with the bounty referred to; thereby lessening the actual cost of the manufacture from 25 to 50 per cent, and enabling the English exporters to drive off all competition in foreign markets. This bounty provision was annulled during the Premiership of Sir Robert Peel, together with all the excise duty on the home consumption. In 1673, the first plate-glass was manufactured at Lambeth, under a royal charter; but no great progress was made at that time, and the works for the purpose were doubtless very limited. One hundred years later, i. e., 1773, a company was formed under a royal charter, called the "Governor and Company of the British Cast Plate Glass Manufactory," with a capital of eighty shares of five hundred pounds each, their works being at Ravenshead, in Lancashire. These works have been very suecessfully conducted, and, according to a late writer, are rivaled by none, excepting those at "St. Gobain,” in France. Since the excise duty on plate-glass has been repealed, its manufacture has increased to a wonderful extent--the quantity used in the construction of the Crystal Palace for the World's Fair being probably many times larger than that manufactured, twenty years since, in the kingdom of Great Britain in any one year. It is to many persons matter of great surprise that the manufacture of plate-glass has never been introduced into this country. The whole process is a simple one. The materials are as cheap here as in England or in France. Machinery for the polishing of the surface is as easily procured, and water power quite as abundant, as in either country. The manufacture with the materials so ready to the hand, and these together with the skill, labor, and demand, increasing every year, is most certain to realize a fair remunerating profit, and steady sale. Besseman has lately introduced a new method of casting plate glass, which, should it equal the inventor's expectation, will reduce the cost, supersede the old plan, and eventually of course increase the consumption. TABLE OF ALL FREIGHTS ON LACKAWANNA CỦAL, J. SHIPPED FROM RONDOUT TO NEW HAVEN, NEWPORT, PROVIDENCE, BOSTON, NEWBURYPORT, AND PORTSMOUTH, FROM THE YEAR 1844 TO THE YEAR 1851, BOTH INCLUSIVE; SHOWING THE HIGHEST, THE LOWEST, AND THE ACTUAL AVERAGE RATE OF EVERY YEAR AND TO EACH PLACE, PREPARED BY ALFRED WRIGHT, OF PROVIDENCE, R. L., AND IS BELIEVED TO DESERVE ENTIRE CONFIDENCE. The Hudson River, since 1836, has ordinarily been first closed by ice from the 10th to the 23d December, and its navigation been first open again from about the 23d February to 20th March; but in 1843, the Hudson opened on the 13th January, and closed again the 4th February, remaining shut until the 8th April. The Delaware and Hudson Canal, since 1836, has ordinarily closed its season of navigation about the first of December, commencing operations again about the first of May. The production of coal is necessarily light at Rondout, and the assortment of sizes imperfect on the opening of Canal, until the proper arrangements can be developed continuously, through the mines, railroads, and canal; which requires several days. A knowledge of the depth of water at common tides, (in feet and inches,) with width of draw where there is a bridge, to the place of landing, is always desirable in engaging vessels. The difference in structure is such, that scarcely any two vessels, of the same burden, have the same draught of water, and a very large difference is common. There is 11 feet of water, common tides, and more at full tides, on the bar at Rondout; vessels of larger draught have been laden within the bar to its then draft, and taken the balance of their cargoes outside without inconvenience. In delivering cargoes at New York, inconvenience has never been experienced in loading vessels, except from ice. Procrastination of the shipment of coal from Rondout is generally a source of increased cost of consumers; and in the middle or latter part of the season, freights often advance with great rapidity, and the greater the advance the more difficult it has been to obtain vessels; nevertheless, freights rule more uniformly, and much lower at all times to New England from Rondout than from any ports on the Delaware, Schuylkill, or Susquehanna Rivers, and the higher the freights have ruled the larger has been that proportional difference. COAL FOR SEA STEAMERS. FREEMAN HUNT, Esq., Editor of the Merchants' Magazine :— SIR:-In the progress which the world's affairs have made, there is no one thing that is contributing so much to the successful advancement of the many enterprises that are now rife, as the steam marine of the world; which seems to be concentrating towards the Equator. The golden lands of California and Australia are drawing towards and to them Commerce and the fluctuating business of the world; the events of the past three years have changed and are changing the phase of the world's affairs; this is the natural sequence of the substitution of steam marine for that of the sole dependence before, of sails and the winds. On reviewing these facts, and their necessary concomitants, and taking a general and comprehensive view of the affairs and Commerce of the world, the question naturally arises what can be done to decrease the expense of steam marine; the item that forms the greatest expense is that of coal or fuel, the cost of which is now enormous; coal costs at Jamaica and Havana from $8 to $10 per ton, and the supply is very irregular; at Panama it is from $28 to $35; at San Francisco from $40 to $50 per ton. Upon inquiry, it will be found that there are over forty steamers now running regularly between the ports of New York, New Orleans, Southampton, England, to Chagres, South America, and Central America, besides some three or four navigating the Orinoco River, South America, and a line running from England touching at the Windward Islands to Buenos Ayres, Rio Janeiro, Cape of Good Hope, and connecting with the Bombay and China lines. The coal which all the steamers of the world use is either shipped from the United States or England, and when the cargo is insured the insurance doubles every 60 days that the vessels are out, thus increasing the cost of it. Each steamer is calculated to be at sea 265 days each year, and the average consumption is about thirty tons daily, thus, making the calculation for forty steamers, it will be as follows:— One-half this amount, i. e., 159,000 tons, must be shipped from the United States or England to the ports of arrival for the steamers' return passages; calculating the coet, it will be as follows: Tons required..... Cost in United States or England Freight... Three per cent for insurance.... Annual cost of coal for steamers... For South America, Central America, and the West Indies The steamer Georgia uses.... 159,000 $3 $477,000 $4 $1,908,000 572 40 $1,908,572 40 Falcon do..... do..... Cherokee do.. Illinois do.. Golden Gate do.... Crescent City do.. Prometheus do.. Daniel Webster do... Northern Light do. El Dorado do..... 64 Philadelphia do..... This is the ordinary use, the Georgia, and others of that class, have used as high as 80 tons daily. From the above, it must appear to the candid and impartial inquirer, that not only the consumption of coal is large, but that there should and must be some means used to decrease its cost, and it follows, as a matter of course, if the expense is decreased the consumption will be greater, and suggest the inquiry of the existence of coal in the vicinity of the ports of arrival of the steamers. It is with the view of bringing to notice, that the writer of this article has, of the existence of coal mines near the ports of arrival of the steamers, requiring capital and skill in the management thereof, by which a large amount of wealth may be accumulated, and also a vast amount of benefit accrue to the Commerce of this country. There is, about 600 sailing miles from Chagres, a mine of coal, capable of furnishing at least 75,000 tons of coal annually, and one within 50 miles of Chagres, which could be made to yield some 50,000 tons annually; also on the Pacific there is a mine about 75 miles from Tigre Island, from which could be got at least 100,000 annually; the cost of getting all these mines in operation will not exceed $500,000. The cost of coal per ton from these mines will not exceed $3 50 a ton when landed at the ports of arrival of the steamers, and can be readily disposed of at $8 per ton and upwards. The effect that the working of these coal mines would have on commercial affairs and the steam marine, is hardly to be calculated; the wants of Commerce now breaking through the great obstacles of the enormous expense would be largely increased, commensurate with the demands of business, and the necessary exigencies of Commerce would be answered without the stringent obstacles that now bar and ob struct the stream of Commerce from flowing as freely as it should. To the United States it presents untold advantages, as this country, above all other nations, is now, and the future presents better prospects, that we shall be in a better situation to reap the advantages from this new state of affairs, consequent upon an enlarging steam marine, than any other. The writer of this article would be pleased to give any further information in his power to those who should feel disposed to become connected with enterprises of this nature, by addressing him through the New York Post-office. JAMES D. STEVENSON. |